ASVEL Lyon Villeurbanne inks three-time champ Andersen

ASVEL Lyon Villeurbanne will have one of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague’s most-experienced big men leading its charge in the qualifying rounds after signing three-time Euroleague champion David Andersen to a two-year contract. Andersen (2.12 meters, 34 years old) boasts 224 career Euroleague appearances, which is the eighth most in competition history. He is third with 1,145 career rebounds and 10th with 2,297 points. Andersen was named to the 2005 All-Euroleague First Team. The big man played for Australia at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain this summer. Andersen spent the past season in France with Strasbourg, which he helped reach the French League finals. He averaged 12.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game in the regular season and then boosted his numbers to 13.5 points, 6 boards and 2.7 assists in the playoffs.

Andersen made his pro debut in 1998 with Wollongong in his native Australia, but soon signed for Virtus Bologna. He spent four seasons there, winning the Euroleague title in 2001 and also reaching the title game in 2002. After that, he moved to Siena for a first stint with Montepaschi in 2003-04, to reach a second Final Four. His next stop was Russia, to play with CSKA Moscow, with whom he won Euroleague titles in 2006 and 2008, among many other domestic titles. He would spend one more season in Europe with FC Barcelona of Spain, reaching another Final Four before moving to the NBA, where he spent a couple of seasons playing for Houston, Toronto and New Orleans. In the summer of 2011 he was back to Siena, where he continued his successful career in Europe, and then joined Fenerbahce Ulker for the 2012-13 campaign.